114 CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



corn, embracing the ripened but defective ears, and the truly soft and smutty 

 ears, which are not husked, but thrown by for immediate use. The silk and 

 husks are carefully separated from the two first parcels, as they imbibe mois- 

 ture, induce mouldiness, and afford building materials for mice. We also 

 separate the grainless tips and stems of that which we place in cribs, for the 

 like reasons, and to preserve the grain in a sound bright condition. 



The forage from the corn crop, when saved in the manner we have directed, 

 is an excellent fodder for neat cattle, if cut for feeding out. We have used it 

 in this way, exclusive of hay, for two years, and find it answers all the purposes 

 of hay. Our practice is to cut a quantity, to mix with it bran, or roots, cut up, 

 when we have them, and to sprinkle the mass with brine, and to feed in man- 

 gers. 



The Genesee Farmer, vol. vi., contains an article of great 

 interest to corn growers, presenting, in a condensed form, a 

 history of the various methods adopted by farmers in different 

 sections of the United States to produce those large crops, which 

 go so far to show that the capabilities of our soil, and the most 

 beneficial and advantageous course of treatment, are but imper- 

 fectly understood. 



"Too many concurring favourable circumstances are, perhaps, 

 required to often realize the highest hopes of corn, on record. 

 If the best and most thorough modes of preparation and culture 

 were adopted, yields of from eighty to a hundred bushels 

 might, in favourable seasons, be relied on with certainty." 

 Indeed it is not uncommon, in many parts of our own state, 

 (Pennsylvania,) to witness a yield of from seventy-five and 

 eighty, to a hundred bushels of corn upon an acre, without 

 any extraordinary application of manure, or unusual attention 

 to the culture certainly not more than all crops should re- 

 ceive. These results were, of course, in seasons favourable to 

 the growth of corn. E. P**#**#E, of Delaware county, has 

 averaged from ninety to one hundred bushels per acre, for 

 several years in succession; and he informed the writer of this, 

 that in the year 1838, a season of drought, his corn turned out 

 ninety-seven bushels per acre this he attributed mainly to 

 the fact of his keeping the earth well stirred during the preva- 

 lence of the drought. 



Mr. GAYLORD, in the article referred to above, in which he proceeds to show 

 the method adopted to produce large crops, says: The first I shall give, is from 

 a report of a crop by Mr. BOGBEE, near Springfield, Massachusetts. He says, 

 "Last spring I ploughed up a piece of greensward, measuring five acres. After 

 ploughing, thirty loads of manure to the acre were spread over it, and tho- 

 roughly mixed with the earth by the harrow, without disturbing or breaking 

 the sward. On the 30th of May I planted my corn. A small quantity of ashes, 

 lime and plaster, mixed together and prepared for the purpose, was put into 

 the hill at the time of planting. Of this mixture there were two and a half 

 bushels of lime, the same of plaster, and twenty-five bushels of ashes for the 

 whole five acres." The corn was hoed twice, and from one acre, the crop 

 being carefully gathered and measured, it was found to be one hundred and 

 eight bushels of good clean merchantable corn. As this acre was no more than 

 a fair average, the quantity produced by the five acres was not less than five 

 hundred and forty bushels. How much in this case is to be attributed to the 



